Pat O'Hara hopes to be fullly healthy when he kicks off his second season as coach of the New Orleans VooDoo next year. He's still taking an oral antibiotic for a staph infection he suffered after a July knee operation, but O'Hara plans to hit the ground running without crutches when training camp starts in March.

He'll bring a new two-year contract into his second season as VooDoo coach, as he signed that extension Thursday. O'Hara said he is happy to be in the Big Easy for at least the next two years and that the community support was "amazing" when he got sick.

"I’m able to walk with one crutch now, which is a big milestone for me," O'Hara said. "I haven’t been able to put much weight on my knee. By training camp I’ll be 100 percent. I love New Orleans and the people. We've just started getting this thing at the level we wanted to get to."

New Orleans VooDoo Coach Pat O'Hara is recovering from a staph infection he contracted over the summer.Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-Picayune

O'Hara made it to the Voodoo's open tryout Sunday at City Park, at which he said about 100 players showed up to audition. He said even a Japanese player flew in to try out at wide receiver.

"It's very neat to see the interest level abroad," O'Hara said, "(The Japanese wide receiver) ran some really good routes and did a good job. There were a lot of spectators too, people watching what we’re about and how we do it."

The VooDoo will play six of their nine home games at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome because of upcoming construction at the New Orleans Arena around May 2013.

O'Hara said he initially was concerned about how the Superdome would fare as a home field for the VooDoo, but now he said he's enthused about playing those six games at the "historic venue."

"You have to credit ownership. I think it’s exciting," O'Hara said. "They have a great plan for our setup to make it a more intimate environment. It’s gonna be cool. ... They’ve got a great plan to curtain off certain areas, lay down our field and pull down seats."

And a clean bill of health will make the season even better for O'Hara.